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Monday Morning

It’s nearly 10:00 a.m. on Monday morning. My East Coast clients may very well be into their second or third meeting of the day, and my Midwest colleagues are hitting their stride as well. Me? I just got to my desk. But I wasn’t lounging in my pajamas, sipping coffee, reading the news. Quite the contrary:

Stretched and rubbed eyes while mumbling at the alarm just before 6:00 a.m. Woke teenager so he could get to high school on time.

Showered, dressed, put on make-up, dried and styled hair, brushed teeth; even made a wardrobe change and justified it to baffled husband who wondered who’s going to see my anyway. (I just like to look and feel ready for a meeting any time.)

Started teakettle.

Checked email and Facebook.

Woke two little girls by singing Happy Birthday (youngest turns eight today); assembled red, white and blue outfits for them to wear for Veterans Day celebration at school.

Turned off whistling teakettle.

Made pink pancakes with chocolate chips at request of birthday girl; sliced apple so they’d consume at least a few healthy bites before school. Ate breakfast with girls; resorted to re-warmed cup of decaf coffee leftover from last night, because I forgot to make the tea.

Carried out recycling.

Welcomed and generously tipped Peapod delivery man as he stacked sodas in the garage and carried a dozen bags of groceries up to the kitchen.

Scooped cat box. Carried out trash. (Why couldn’t the cats have pooped before I took out the recycling?)

Cleared breakfast table; finished loading and started dishwasher.

Made girls’ beds; noticed them taking craft supplies from bedroom to dining table; discovered they had transformed dining table into crafting station.

Nudged girls to get to the bus; one went promptly out the door; youngest continued crafting birthday crown until bus was in view; hustled her down the stairs, out the door and across the street, handing her a coat and shoes as she boarded in sock feet, trailing a paper crown in progress and clutching the only roll of Scotch tape I’ve been able to locate in weeks.

Added tape to shopping list … can’t wrap gifts without it.

Looked at dining room table; decided even birthday girls can clean up their own messes after school.

Mixed and put birthday cake in oven. Restarted teakettle.

Hand-washed dishes that didn’t make it (okay, wouldn’t fit) into dishwasher.

Asked husband for eighth time what time he leaves for airport; I just can’t retain that information; kissed him and left him to work in his home office.

Finally made pot of tea.

Started this list, thinking it would make me feel accomplished (or tired?).

Heard oven timer and trudged back upstairs to remove cake (toothpick came out clean), thinking maybe now I can get my head into a communication strategy or a writing project …

At last, I’m sipping that tea. And in a moment I’ll dig into email messages from my Spencer Grace clients. I may be getting a little later start than my colleagues—even later than usual, actually. But it sure feels good to know that my family has had a good start to the day, and our household is ready to rock this week. I’ll do better work as a result.